The smell of burning filled the air. When everyone opened their eyes again, they saw an abandoned gate with designs painted on its surface, resembling the tentacles of a sea creature.
Looking up, they saw a giant cartoon octopus perched atop the gate. Years of wind and rain had blurred its paint, which had run together in streaks. Its eyes had been gouged out, leaving two hollow holes that looked strange and creepy.
This was a deserted amusement park, empty, silent, and utterly dilapidated.
All five members of Azure Mist looked uneasy. Judging by the oppressive atmosphere of this instance, its difficulty was unlikely to be low.
Everyone was tense and anxious. Only one person seemed oblivious, letting out an exclamation of admiration.
"Wow! What a huge octopus."
Zheng Xun clicked his tongue in amazement.
: Hahahahahaha, I'm dying! There goes all the tension!
: Is Erchui craving octopus?
: The fish is so big, it won't fit in one pot.
: Be serious! You're still in an instance.
After praising it, Zheng Xun saw the other five turn to look at him.
"Oh, right, I should check in with the players. Player Yin, what do you think of this octopus?"
Yin Lexin was so angry he didn't say a word.
"What about you, Player Luo?"
Noticing that Luo Mingxuan was the only one willing to play along, Zheng Xun held out an imaginary microphone to him.
"I think it would be excellent blanched."
Luo Mingxuan really did play along.
With Zheng Xun stirring things up like that, the others had to admit they felt more relaxed.
Xu Guan looked over each of his teammates in turn, as though checking on their condition.
"Draw a number, then we go in."
Usually, Xu Guan handled the draw himself. After all, if they drew a 3S, only the captain could shoulder the blame.
But this time, Meng Yijia beat him to it.
"I'll go."
Xu Guan didn't say much, simply nodding his agreement.
Meng Yijia headed for the long table where the number-drawing machine stood. As if afraid Zheng Xun might suddenly pull something, he looked back and gave him a warning glance.
Zheng Xun didn't look back, but he kept his mouth tightly shut.
Luo Mingxuan came over.
"Why aren't you reporting? I thought you were our embedded reporter."
Zheng Xun dropped the serious act and started jabbering.
"Do you think I'm stupid? What if the draw goes badly and they blame it on me?"
Taking the blame once was enough. He didn't want to do it a second time.
Luo Mingxuan smiled, stuck both hands in his pockets, and waited for the result.
After a tinkling tune played, a small orange ball dropped out.
Then it spat out another.
SS rank!
: 2S?
: Again?
: Come to think of it, aren't S-rank instances way too common? I've never seen this many before!
: Probably just probability. The instances Azure Mist has vetted wouldn't be low-rank.
: I'd rather believe it's because of Zheng Xun's constitution...
: This guy Erchui brings an extra S with him whenever he opens a box!
: I feel like all the S-rank instances I've seen in my life have been with God Zheng.
A 2S instance was unquestionably high-difficulty, and Meng Yijia's expression was grim.
"Captain..."
Xu Guan shook his head. There was no need for an explanation.
"Everyone, keep your weapons in hand and be ready to fight at any time. Shutong, you'll handle the puzzles as usual."
"Okay, got it."
"Lexin, stay with Shutong and cover her while she solves the puzzles."
"Okay."
"Yijia and Mingxuan, adapt as needed. If we run into a boss, the three of us will engage first."
"No problem."
Finally, Xu Guan looked at Zheng Xun, instinctively assuming he was one of his teammates.
"You-"
Zheng Xun stood at attention.
"Captain Xu, give me an order! I'll help if I'm in the mood!"
"...Never mind."
As expected of a top guild's first team, their mental fortitude and overall abilities were first-rate. Faced with an SS-rank instance, they quickly got themselves ready.
They prepared to enter the park through the gate.
Creak...
There was no wind and no force pushing it, but the gate opened on its own.
A chill ran through the five of them.
Zheng Xun pulled the camera ball over so the livestream audience could see what was happening.
"Look," he said. "As expected of an SS-rank instance. An automatic sensor gate. Impressive."
Having learned from last time, no one paid Zheng Xun any attention. He had ruined a perfectly good suspenseful atmosphere.
The others thought Zheng Xun would start acting seriously once they were inside.
They were sorely mistaken.
As they passed through a corridor, a doll hanging on one side suddenly waved its arms and let out a creaking laugh, nearly making Wang Shutong scream.
Zheng Xun remarked from the side, "A heat-sensing automatic doll. Excellent."
Soon afterward, they passed a hand-painted wall. When Yin Lexin turned his head, the faces on the wall suddenly began weeping tears of blood, their smiles turning to frowns. His skin crawled.
But when he glanced aside, he saw Zheng Xun leaning in so close that his face was almost against the wall.
"Postmodern art. I don't get it, but it's pretty impressive."
Yin Lexin fought back the urge to throw a punch.
Even worse, when they came to a small grove, corpses appeared hanging all over the trees in the blink of an eye, swaying in the wind.
Zheng Xun stroked his chin and offered his assessment.
"Performance art. Impressive, but I don't recommend it."
The viewers in the General Association's livestream were laughing themselves silly.
: Hahahahahaha, Erchui acts like there's something seriously wrong with him. Is he here to clear an instance or go sightseeing?
: Erchui, get a grip! You're not strolling through a park!
: A perfectly good horror movie is turning into a comedy.
: He really does seem worried that we'll imitate that performance art.
: Erchui is very worried about you.jpg
: Weird. Not a single monster has come out yet. I'm starting to get scared.
: What's wrong with the person above's eyes? Aren't those all monsters?
: Where? Where?
: The corpses hanging in the trees.
The comments were right. The first obstacle Azure Mist had to overcome was the Hanging Corpse Forest before them.
"Is there another way?"
Xu Guan turned to ask Luo Mingxuan and Meng Yijia, who had just scouted some distance around the forest from two different directions.
Both shook their heads.
"We can only go through," Luo Mingxuan said.
Xu Guan made his decision without hesitation.
"Then we go through."
Everyone tightened their grip on their weapons.
Xu Guan carried a scepter with a gemstone at its end. It was actually a button for switching modes: one light press would turn half the shaft into a blade.
Of the other three, Meng Yijia's weapon was a fishbone sword, while Yin Lexin carried a curved saber. Wang Shutong had been carrying a brown leather case the whole time. It seemed to serve two purposes, acting as both a weapon and a container for items.
The last of them, Luo Mingxuan, was empty-handed, just like Zheng Xun.
"Where's your weapon?" Zheng Xun asked.
"Where's yours?" Luo Mingxuan threw the question back at him.
"..."
"My weapon isn't convenient to show," Luo Mingxuan said with a smile. "It'll appear when it needs to."
Since he was so confident and composed, Zheng Xun couldn't be bothered to press him. He would find out sooner or later anyway.
Before entering the forest, Zheng Xun took a moment to interact with the livestream audience.
"Ahem, viewers, as you can see, we're about to pass through this 'cured-human forest.'"
The comments complained about what a "cured-human forest" was supposed to be.
"What comes next will be tense and exciting, so don't blink." Zheng Xun stepped aside, and the camera caught Xu Guan charging in first. "All right, Captain Xu is leading the way. Next are Players Luo and Meng, and Player Wang. Hm? Player Yin, why aren't you going in yet?"
Yin Lexin was waiting for Wang Shutong to go in first.
"Because I'm bringing up the rear!"
"All right, all right, then hurry up. Okay, viewers, I'm going in now too."
The situation in the corpse forest was worse than they had expected. As soon as the first person entered, the entire forest seemed to be shaken awake, and every corpse launched a fierce attack on them!
Xu Guan led his teammates in a difficult fight, but one person moved freely through their midst as though no one were there, even managing to provide commentary with ease.
"As you can see, the monsters have begun attacking, and the players are fighting back bravely."
"Player Wang smacked one to death with her suitcase."
"Vice Captain Meng pierced two of them straight through."
"Player Luo is dodging through the monsters' relentless barrage like a magnificent loach."
"Captain Xu... one kill for Captain Xu, two kills, three kills! As expected of the ace."
"Oh dear, our Player Yin is still off in a daze! Player Yin, a question for you: why are you unhappy?"
Yin Lexin kicked a monster away and roared at Zheng Xun, who was not far off-
"If you have energy to spare, come help!"
"I can't do that." Zheng Xun hugged himself and tilted his head to dodge a lunging corpse. "I'm a weak and helpless embedded reporter. All I can do is protect myself."
"..."
"Everyone!" Xu Guan suddenly shouted from up ahead. "Ten o'clock, move!"
Xu Guan had found a shortcut and immediately alerted everyone. The others were well trained and promptly followed their captain's lead.
Two minutes later, the exit was close at hand.
Xu Guan slowed down a little. After covering Wang Shutong, Meng Yijia, and Luo Mingxuan as they passed, he turned back to find Yin Lexin, only to see Zheng Xun dawdling at the rear too.
Zheng Xun shot him a look. Xu Guan didn't know how he understood it, but he turned and left.
Zheng Xun took a paper megaphone out of his Cloud Space. Who knew what sort of random junk he stuffed in there all day?
He was cheering Yin Lexin on.
"Hurry up, Player Yin! Any later and you'll miss the meal at the cafeteria!"
Yin Lexin was annoyed to death. He had to deal with corpses biting and flying all over the place while also fending off Zheng Xun's noise attack.
He had just turned to snap back when a corpse monster unexpectedly sprang out from his lower left, its bloody maw gaping wide. Its sharp teeth were about to bite his head off!
The raven camera happened to capture the monster's mouth. The comments erupted in alarm, and everyone thought Yin Lexin was done for, including Yin Lexin himself.
"Player Yin, what are you spacing out for? Move faster, and don't hold me back."
Zheng Xun sent Yin Lexin flying three meters with a kick.